With Darnell Nurse serving notice in yesterday’s pre-season game that he isn’t about to go quietly into the night, with Jesse Joensuu crashing the net and scoring goals, and with new head coach Dallas Eakins making all kinds of sense, it should be easy for Oilers fans to be optimistic about the pre-season, despite a less-than-stellar record so far.

That’s good. September should be about optimism; the hope that this new guy is going to excel and this young prospect is something special and this old guy can bounce back.

Nurse

I’m going to quote two of my favourite writers here on last night’s game.

Lowetide: “He looked like a young Larry Robinson last night: gangly and all arms and legs, but lethal when the puck is dropped. Frankly, I think there’s a non-zero chance he makes the team.”

Wow. My game notes relevant to Nurse say: “Rush on backhand side, very nice! … 74 starts breakaway play with crisp pass to 83 … good hard board work to clear zone … wins another board battle … 74 beats both Sedins! clears zone … high end puck handling … stones Henrik on 2-on-1 … good defensive stop, agile … breaks up play before it starts, in neutral zone”. Meanwhile, the Event Summary reveals how active his night was, with 5 attempted shots, 3 hits, 4 blocked shots, and, remarkably, 4 takeaways. (That’s an unreliable stat to say the least, but one almost never sees a “4″ in that column, at least not under “Oilers”.) Not a negative stat to be seen in the form of a giveaway, a penalty, a minus. For all the positive plays, Nurse’s inexperience showed a time or two; he “got away” with a couple of iffy situations largely due to his own athleticism, which is impressive to say the least.

And then there’s the head coach: “He was on the war path. I thought he played one hell of a game and that looks like a real solid pick.”

That’s all good – but it would almost certainly be a poor decision to keep Nurse on the roster. He needs the minutes in junior, even the best defencemen rarely play in the NHL at Nurse’s age, the Oilers are already loaded to the gills with defencemen, and so on. Also, perhaps importantly: we know young defenceman have ups and downs (if we didn’t, Justin Schultz sure taught us last year) and two weeks ago Nurse was looking athletic but very, very, very raw playing against nobodies in Penticton. The pendulum swung the other way last night, but it will likely swing back. Another solid year in junior will be good for him, but it seems increasingly likely that he’ll be on the team next year.

Joensuu

The New York Islanders gave up on this guy, and whenever I hear about a big guy who can play I have flashbacks to Pat Quinn explaining why Jean-Francois Jacques was going on the first line. With that out of the way, he’s been impressive – I thought Brian Sutherby nailed it yesterday:

When he had the puck however he still looked very strong, and created a couple quality scoring opportunities. He is a huge frame that looks like he is more than able to keep up with the play and to date has given opposing teams fits down low. Size is obviously something this forward group desperately needs. It will be interesting to watch him as preseason goes on when more veterans draw into lineups.

Yes, it’s early and we’ll see, but so far so good.

Eakins

There hasn’t been this much buzz about an Oilers head coach since Pat Quinn led the coaching dream team!

That’s not remotely a shot at Eakins – every time he opens his mouth he says smart things and I think there’s a pretty good chance that he was exactly the guy the Oilers needed to hire for the job. I also can’t help admiring a rookie NHL coach with the chutzpah to redo the dressing room, take away reporters’ donuts, and show a little personality. Particularly when that personality largely consists of grim-faced statements of grim determination.

The point is that however impressive a coach seems, the proof is in the long-term results. The Oilers started 6-2-1 under Pat Quinn, with a high shooting percentage masking a team with terrible problems. Meanwhile, it turns out that Quinn wanted to send Gagner to the AHL so that Rob Schremp wouldn’t need to go on waivers. Ralph Krueger last year came with a unique resume and an extremely impressive attitude; unfortunately in a year where everything (shortened schedule, short camp, missing a coach) was lined up against him he significantly under-delivered.

I think Eakins is different, but I have to allow for the possibility that I'm wrong.

Franson is resigned to a shorter-term contract. There's some speculation as to why Franson never filed for arbitration this summer and it's become accepted that it's because he didn't want to risk playing on another one-year deal. Frankly, he's a player that has paid his dues and deserves a bit of stability, so I don't hold it against him for holding out.

Click the link above to read more, or feel free to check out some of my recent stuff below:

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

Nurse was beastly last night. I remember thinking 'damn, that kid can move.'

He was really using the boards to his advantage, bank passes to himself, chips up to wingers breaking out. At one point he beat two forwards in a row with the same move - a backhand bank off the boards, spinning off the check, using his reach to recover the puck, then moving his feet to get clear of the corner. I absolutely can't wait for this kid to make the big club.

And just how is this kid going to be any closer to the NHL if they send him back to play with a bunch of kids? Love to see this kid SUITBOHC (media opinion he's one or two yrs away)

He may struggle at times if he stays, but i'd put him in there ahead of Larssen,Grabeshkov,Klefbom or Potsy. Andy (Andrew Ference) will take good care of this kid and show him the ropes. The Oilers now have their own Chuck Norris on skates, if there ever was one. Kill'em kid. Let them see stars, and not just the Hall.Ebs,RNH and Yakupov kind.

And just how is this kid going to be any closer to the NHL if they send him back to play with a bunch of kids? Love to see this kid SUITBOHC (media opinion he's one or two yrs away)

He may struggle at times if he stays, but i'd put him in there ahead of Larssen,Grabeshkov,Klefbom or Potsy. Andy (Andrew Ference) will take good care of this kid and show him the ropes. The Oilers now have their own Chuck Norris on skates, if there ever was one. Kill'em kid. Let them see stars, and not just the Hall.Ebs,RNH and Yakupov kind.

There was one shift where you could see he got tired out by pushing and shoving behind the Oiler net to fight for the puck and then was pretty gassed roaming around the zone waiting for the puck to get cleared.

But the Blues weren't on the heels of 26th, 30th, 30th,29th and 24th place finishes like the Oilers are. In case you haven't noticed, the Oil need all the help they can get. To put the Oilers next to the Blues would be an insult of biblical proportions, no? Maybe MacTavish should error on the side of caution, being this is a B market with a smaller window of opportunity.

Preseason's in the past have been filled with blind optimism by myself and other Oilheads alike. This year is different, you see the pieces of the whole puzzle coming together, we're not searching for that elusive piece or two you need to complete the damn thing. Playoffs aren't a guarantee, but a damn good possibility.

Loved Nurse's game last night, but give him one more year in junior, it'll pay off in the long term

But the Blues weren't on the heels of 26th, 30th, 30th,29th and 24th place finishes like the Oilers are. In case you haven't noticed, the Oil need all the help they can get. To put the Oilers next to the Blues would be an insult of biblical proportions, no? Maybe MacTavish should error on the side of caution, being this is a B market with a smaller window of opportunity.

Sorry for fudging those numbers to support my argument, oh wait.

I'm still here Mr. Bomb ;)

That would be short term gain for long term pain - The Calgary Flames model.

I am happy the Oilers are choosing to look at the big picture with some of their more important pieces in the long-term.

You may disagree, but management is finally following the example of the NHL's most successful franchises.

After years of finishing 26th, 30th, 30th, 29th, and 24th (did I get that right?); it's about time they start learning from the teams that have stomped them for the last decade and more.

Ban all 18 year olds from playing in NHl even if they are good enough , as they will be better served by going back to Junior even though by law they are now young adults ? You people got a 100% guarantee they will be better going back to Junior ? I doubt it . Would Hall, Hopkins or Yakupov be the better for it ? I doubt it . Nurse making a good statement to stay , and we are loaded with defenceman but not a lot of real good ones .Marincin Out to lunch on Canucks first goal and had several mistakes in game . Right now is who can possibly keep Nurse out from opening squad if he keeps this up ? Age does not look like a factor with him so far , just the fans who like to coddle the propects .

Nurse will need that extra year in Junior to condition himself to logging huge minutes in every situation. His play last night has a lot of people excited in Oilerland but hes best suited going back to junior and possibly playing for Canada during the holidays. Him beating the Sedins cleanly and breaking up their 2 on 1 finally served this team justice.

The two that have impressed so far have been Joensuu and Nurse, we have needed the big man game in the lineup. I cant believe NYI just gave up on the guy...... just kidding that team has some of the most boneheaded moves of the past twenty years. No nine game tryout, just send Nurse back to the OHL, he can dominate and build his confidence.

Was relieved to see Hall win his first two draws (against Sedin) and play the position well in the first. By my eye, they are playing F1,F2,F3 in the D-zone (as opposed to positions). Either that or Hall was confused as he was occasionally playing the wing position by the points.

Speaking of Sportsnet, I hope they trash that picture in picture of the player leaving the penalty box. It covered up Marincin leaving the box and I'm still wondering why he didn't have a clear cut breakwawy.